Before I became a teacher I dreamed about my classroom. I imagined my students arriving each day with anticipation in their eyes and wonder in their hearts. I envisioned a room with hands in the air, thoughtful discussions, and signs of fascination and curiosity. I pictured students glued to their seats when the bell rang … Continue Reading
My students summarize, I want them to analyze. This is the battle I face every year. This comes out most often when they get their essays back. They are hoping that I recognized and rewarded their brilliance. But when I conference with students about their work, and we put their essay under a microscope, they … Continue Reading
My AP students enter my class having read Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade… and that’s it. No Othello in 10th. No Julius Caesar. No Hamlet. It’s the hand I’m dealt and rather than lament this, I have to get to work building skill as quickly as I can. This isn’t an easy task because Shakespeare’s language … Continue Reading
There are a bunch of lines in Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Shoulders” that have stayed with me ever since I discovered it a few years ago. Like many good poems, it takes something small and simple — a man is trying to cross the street in the rain while carrying his son — and turns … Continue Reading
If you could somehow transcribe the first poetry unit that I taught this year, the word that would appear most often would be “complex.” In each of my classes we define complexity as something that has things connected in complicated ways. We apply that definition to poetry, looking for the parts that connect to the … Continue Reading
Erik Powell is in his 29th year of teaching, most of them at Ferris High School in Spokane, WA. He loves working with passionate, intelligent, … Continue Reading
I had 12 tabs and applications ready for my first day of hybrid teaching. Google Meet, Google Slides, Google Classroom, attendance, email, Jamboard, a PDF, four internet tabs, and SmartNotebook were all at my disposal. I thought I was prepared for anything. What I wasn’t prepared for, though, was how digitally uncoordinated I would feel. … Continue Reading
I want to tell you why I am so hopeful for this school year. But first, let me share with you a bit about my first two days in the classroom. For the past 14 years I’ve taught the same first-day lesson. Actually, it is the same first two-day lesson. I don’t do this syllabus. … Continue Reading
I am an English teacher, so my ears perk up when writers talk about their process. I’ve found the advice handy for lesson planning, too. That’s because both writing and planning deal with craft. In writing, you want your audience to be absorbed. You want them to care about your characters. You want them be … Continue Reading
This post originally appeared on Edutopia. A college application is little more than names and numbers. The numbers include SAT score, class rank, and GPA. The names include classes taken, sports, clubs, and activities, as well as awards and recognitions. While these elements may give a snapshot of a student’s academic background, there’s little to … Continue Reading
